Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1887-04-29
OBITUARY.

Dead! the inventor. miller, farmer friend
and Christian brother, ELISHA s. SNYDER, OF
Snyders Mills, Jefferson County, West Vir-
GINA.
like Dorcas he did not make garments for the
poor he did make them homes and gave tn EN-
employment. They will miss him now he is
no more. He was the tried and trusted friend
OF widows and orphans too. To more than
one fatherless child he gave home, an edu-
cation and a start in life. and the tears they
shed at his funeral attested their gratitude
and voiced the bereavement they felt they
had met with In the death of their friend and
benefactor.
Every worthy man, in his neighborhood
struggling to get on in life found in Elisha s..
Snyder wise counsellor, sympathizing friend
that is now doing well, owes their start and
success lin life) chiefly, to MIN. The little
children also found in him a friend. They
viii miss the old man now, whose bright
erous gifts, both deligh ted them and made
them love him.
But not least of all, will he be missed by the
weary itinerant who found in his home a re-
treat and q quiet resting place, where, when
worn out by the arduous labors of his high
vocation he might turn In and rest and re-
fresh himself, and never did he fail to find a
most cordial welcome and generous enter
tainment. His familiar face, seldom absent
from church, will also be missed by the under
shepherd when he comes to the Gospel we'll
to water his flock and the "HdrueSt Home
II will not be complete without him. He was
no ordinary man-this my dear friend and
Christian brother-ElishaS s. Snyder He was
q man OF real genius, brain and heart. Had
he enjoyed better educational advantages in
early life he would have been heard from
more largely than he was and he certainly
did not live in vain. Whatever he was, he
made himself. He was, in every sense Of the
word, self-made man. He never learned a
trade and yet was first class mechanic, mil
Ter and draugntsman. After spending some
years In the milling business, in which he
was very successful he turned his attention
TO draughting and inventing. In this field,
as in all others he entered, he achieved sue
cess. AS early as 1858 he was awarded the
highest premium on thresher and cleaner of
wheat, which he had on exhibit ion in New
York City, In that year. He enjoyed the
unique honor OF being the first man TO invent
a threshing machine with cleaner COM
bined. Since that year he had been awarded.
from time to time, number of patents on
useful Inventions
Only short time before he died and while
In his 18th year. he was awarded q second
patent on an insertible and adjustable saw
tooth, which was regarded by him as the very
best OF Its kind yet produced.
Though past three-score and ten, his eyes
were not dim, nor his natural force abated,
and the last work he did, he said, was his
best.
His physician said his death was not due to
the decay Of his physical or mental powers,
but to the accident of the disease. Elisha s..
Snyder was the son OF the late Abraham and
Susan Deaner Snyder, OF jefferson County,
w. Va, and was born on the - day OF -
in the year 1872, and died on Wednesday
morning, March 9th, 1887. aged "A years, -
months and - days. On the 18th day Of Au-
gust, in the year 1856, he was married by Rev.
Elias Welty, to Miss Willamina Hollida, who
survives him and deeply mourns his death.
Mr. Snyder was Presbyterian until eleven
years ago when, during great revival at Mt.
Wesley NJ. f. Church conducted by Rev. Jno.
w. Smith, he Joined the Methodist Episcopal
Church in whose communion he died. His
Christian life was marked for simplicity and
conscious integrity. His testimony TO his
conversion was clear and decided. He knew
whom he had believed" His death was
peaceful.
On Friday morning, March llth 1857, we
laid him away in the Cemetery at the church
(Mt. Wesley he loved so well. Great was
the outpouring of the people who came to
pay tribute OF respect 10 his memory, and
many were the tears shed at his funeral.
Rev. James McLaren, who had been his
pastor for three years Dust past), conducted
the funeral services and delivered brief, but
feeling eulogy upon the character OF the de-
ceased.
Servant of God, well done,
Thy glorious warfare's past,
The battles fought, the victory won,
And thou art crowned at last
J. Mel